Most stressful jobs for 2014: In defense of photographers

Denver Post photographers jockey for position on Jan. 1, 2014, to report on the first day of legal marijuana sales in Denver. (RJ Sangosti, Denver Post file)

The website CareerCast is out with its list of the “10 Most Stressful Jobs in 2014.” Of course, these lists exist to spur dialogue on the relative worth of the assorted professions, but what was most interesting to me is what has changed since 2013.

On the list, many of the occupations haven’t changed since last year (and likely never will): Military personnel, firefighters and airline pilots will always be the people with the most stressful jobs. It’s a new entry at No. 5 that gave me pause: Event coordinator. It comes in ahead of corporate executive, police officer and news reporter, among others, and it knocked news photographer off the list completely.

Having dipped my toe in with The Post’s community engagement series, I can see that there’s a lot of pressure to please attendees or raise money in a crowded field of people vying for philanthropic funds. I don’t mean to diminish the profession, but I’m dubious that event coordinator is more stressful than photographer.

To add to that pressure, they and their counterparts have suffered the argument, thanks to sites like Tumblr and Instagram, that “anyone can be a photographer” if they have a phone camera. They have observed decision-makers at some other news organizations who agree with that assessment. As one photo editor said, “Maybe it’s not as stressful because there’s a smaller pool of people to survey.”

I encourage you to log on at 6 p.m. Wednesday to watch Photo Night Live, a bi-monthly discussion where you get the stories behind the great photos. (I’d encourage you to come down, but attendance at these events is so popular, the auditorium fills to capacity too fast.) This time, the discussion will feature our sports photography, so you’ll see images from both the Broncos season and from the Sochi Olympics.

You’ll learn that there’s a lot of work that goes into that image that you see in a photo gallery or on a news page. You’ll learn how much passion and skill the photojournalists bring to their work. Maybe they just make it look easy, but I’m here to tell you that good journalism rarely is.

I am the Editor -in-Chief of The Denver Post. I have been in journalism since 1976, getting my start at the defunct Journal Herald in Dayton. Four years later, I went to work for my hometown newspaper.

I am a Colorado native who has been at The Post since 1996, working in copy editing and design before moving to administration. I created my first newspaper when the Broncos went to the Super Bowl in 1978.

I am the Digital Director for The Denver Post. I joined the Post’s web staff in 1999 — one week before the tragedy at Columbine High School. Prior to my journalism career, I worked in Washington as a legislative assistant for a New York congressman.

I am the Senior Editor/News at the Denver Post. I have been at The Post sincd 1999 in a variety of positions, including city editor and investigations editor. I previously worked at The Des Moines Register, and in Greenville, S.C.

I am the Managing Editor for Presentation and Design, overseeing the work of all visual journalists at The Post. I am a graduate of the University of Iowa (Go Hawks!) who has spent 33 years in the newspaper business.

I am the Denver Post city editor and a Colorado native, who has worked at news organizations of all sizes. Raised to be a princess, I continue my adolescent rebellion by keeping bees and chickens in the backyard of a house my husband and I rescued from the wrecking ball. Read her full biography »